Seal for cold storage and like doors



March 11, 1941.

S. A. ORCUTT SEAL FOR COLD STORAGE AND LIKE DOORS Filed March 6, 1940 Cittornegs Patented Mar. 11,1941

PATENT OFFICE 2,234,773 SEAL FOR COLD STORAGE AND LIKE DOORS Stanley A. Orcutt, York, Pa., assignor to York Ice,

Machinery Corporation, York, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application March 6, 19-10, Serial No. 322,591

2 Claims.

This invention relates to gasket seals for doors of refrigerated chambers, particularly meat boxes and cold storage doors.

Such doors are usually hinged and are provided with a latch having a camming action to seat the door against two gaskets. One gasket is customarily interposed between an overhanging flange on the front of the door and the door frame, and the other is usually interposed between the inner face of the door and a flange mounted within the door frame. Both gaskets seal in direct compression. This construction has a number of disadvantages. It is dii'ncult to secure an even seal around the entire length of both gaskets. The gaskets soon become flattened so that the seal is impaired. The strip or shoulder against which the inner gasket seal must be deep and hence materially reduces the clear opening through the door frame, and being deep is subject to frequent damage by trucks moving through the door colliding with the strip.

According to the present invention, the inner gasket is mounted around the periphery of the door near the inner face thereof and c'oacts with a shallow beveled sealing strip mounted in the door frame. The effect is to roll or knead the inner gasket and produce a wedging seal. This avoids permanent distortion of the inner gasket, removes frost or ice, and because it does not too greatly resist closing movement of the door assures attainment of a good seal at both gaskets. The total clearance through a door frame of given size is materially greater than it can be made where the inner gasket seats against the outer face of a stop-strip.

The principle of the invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a horizontal section through a portionof. a door frame and the outer portion of a hinged door, showing the door approaching closed position at the moment of engagement of the inner gasket;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the door completely closed; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a short length of gasket suited for use according to the invention.

In the drawing, 6 represents the inner facing member of the doorframe, 1 represents the outer face of the door frame, and 8 is a portion of the inner sheathing of the cold room. A quarterround filler strip 9 is used as finish at the inner margin of the doorway.

The door includes a marginal frame, part of.

which appears at N. This frame is beveled or inclined according to present practice, as clearly indicated in the drawing. The outer sheathing l2 of the door projects to form an overhanging flange I3 which is opposed to the member I of the door frame. Supported against the inner face of the flange I3 is a gasket of known form made up of a compressible core or strand l4 and a flexible envelope l5 wrapped around the same In with its edges in face engagement and connected to form an attaching flange or web. This gasket is attached in any known manner, for example, by screws or nails it, passed through the web as indicated. R

The door is sheathed on its inner face as indicated at I1, and extending around the inner margin of the door is a clamp strip l8, which is rounded for finish at l9 and which is rabbeted at 2| to receive the web of a second gasket. This gasket is similar to the one previously described and comprises a core 22 of flexible and compressible material folded in an envelope 23 of fabric or the like. The two edges of the fabric meet in face to face relation and the resulting web is received. in the rabbet 2|, already described. Fastenings indicated at 24 may be used, but the strip l8 acts at least as auxiliary retaining means. Mounted within the doorway and attached to the frame member 6 in any suitable manner is a sealing strip.25 which may be of wood or any. other suitable material. It has a beveled face 26 which is approximately parallel with the beleled face of the member i l on the door when the door is closed.

As the door approaches closed position the inner gasket strikes the inclined face 26 and from then on rolls and is compressed to the form and position indicated in Fig. 2, arriving at that positinn after the outer gasket has been compressed sufficiently to seal. A comparison of Figs. 1 and 2 makes clear what occurs during the final closing movement of the door. The outer gasket is sealed by direct thrust between the door and the door frame. The inner gasket produces a seal by a rolling-wedging action which does not positively or even very materially resist the closing movement of the door. The outer gasket limits the closing movement of the door by being directly compressed. The parts can readily be so designed that the inner gasket does not roll far enough to overstress the envelope and has withstood without injury fatigue tests of 80,000 manipulations.

The inner gasket is the one most likely to become frosted and the rolling and kneading of the inner gasket not only has the effect of breaking 03 any ice or frost, but it also works the inner gasket so that instead of becoming flattened by repeated impacts, it is kept round and true to its 5 original form. Thus, neither gasket can prevent the other from moving to sealing position. The strip 25 is much thinner than would be required if the inner gasket were sealed in direct compression. The extra cledrance and the reduced risk of mechanical injury are substantial practical advantages.

While no novelty is here claimed for the gasket per se, the gasket shown in detail in Fig. 3 has certain advantages particularly for the inner seal and preferably is used for both seals. In this gasket the normally cylindrical core strand 22 is of sponge rubber and hence extremely resilient and subject to marked reduction of area when compressed. The envelope 23 is not fastened or cemented to the core and flts snugly without compressing the core. The envelope comprises a cotton fabric impregnated and coated with a grease-resisting rubber compound. The attaching web 21 (Fig. 3) is three ply and is formed 25 by folding one edge of the envelope about the I overlapping portions in position to seal with the other and yieldingly limit the closing motion of the door; means producing cooperating faces encircling the frame and door respectively, said faces being spaced from each other and substan- 40 tially parallel with each other when the door is closed and of such obliquity to the closing path of the door that in the final closing motion when the faces are opposed one face moves toward and across the other; and a compressible strand gasket of normally circular cross-section and having a longitudinal projecting attaching web, said gasket being attached by said web along one of said cooperating surfaces and extending in a direction transverse to the closing path of the door the diameter of the gasket strand being so chosen with reference to the spacing of the cooperating faces and the length of the path of relative motion when in contact with the gasket that the gasket will be rolled and compressed between the surfaces substantially without slippage on either surface and without overstress of said web.

2. The combination of a door frame and a door hinged thereto, the door and frame having two pairs of cooperating encircling faces, the first pair being opposed to each other in overlapping relation and normal to the path of the door as the latter reaches its closed position, and the second pair of cooperating faces being oblique to the path of the door as the latter reaches closed position; and so arranged that in closed position they are spaced apart and as the door approaches closed position the surface'on the door moves across the surface on the frame and approaches the same; and two gaskets for producing a double seal between the door and the frame, one such gasket being sealed in direct compression between the first pair of cooperating surfaces and serving to impose a yielding limit on the closing motion of the door, and the second comprising a strand gasket normally of circular cross-section and having a longitudinal attaching web, said gasket being attached by said web along one of the second pair of cooperating surfaces and of such diameter relatively to the interval between the second surfaces when the door is closed that the gasket will be rolled and compressed between said surfaces as the door reaches closed position substantially without slippage on said surfaces and without overstress of said web.

STANLEY A. ORCU'I'I. 

